November 26, 2024 • 20 mins
Labs and Tom discuss the loss to the Browns, get into this weeks questions, and talk some Thanksgiving to wrap up this weeks asked and answered.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Labs headed into that Cleveland game. You know, I saw
the stats. Steelers have only won one time at that
stadium since twenty seventeen. I thought that they were going
to break that streak. I thought they were going to
get the win. I really didn't buy into it, but
there's just something about that place. They have the Steelers
number up there lately, don't they.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, And you know, it was a tough situation, I thought,
particularly this year. You know, Thursday night on the road
is difficult, right, right, regardless, And a lot of people
don't understand is they think, well, Cleveland's close, but it's
not so much the distance you have to go. It's
(00:49):
the time that it takes to get there. And because
of where the stadium is and where the airport is,
you know, it's really.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
One half dozen of the other.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So the Steelers have for forever taking buses, right, and
it's two and a half three hour trip either way
if you because even if you fly, you know, you
may only be in the air for half an hour.
But the airport in Cleveland is way west of the
(01:21):
city and the stadium and all that stuff. So you're
still on buses and you're just driving back, you know,
from the airport. You gotta go to the airport in Pittsburgh,
check in board the plane, load the plane. You know,
all of that's it's it's it's the time element is
what it is. So there's that, and then you play
(01:42):
the Ravens on Sunday, and that's just physically exhausting. Physically,
not so much exhausting as brutal.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, personally, I didn't feel good after that Thursday night
game until like Saturday or Sunday. So you know, I
can't imagine what the Steelers players felt like, you know,
seventy two hours after playing the Ravens and then having
(02:15):
to play another game.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I don't know. So we go through more of a
gauntlet than they do, but sure I'm sure that they too.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah right, here's nothing, you know, like, you know, talking
to you, I mean, I'd rather, you know, try and
tackle Derek and so, you know, And I really think
that some of that physical toll of the Ravens game
showed up in the Browns game, because I didn't particularly
(02:47):
think that the Steelers did very well on either line
of scrimmage. I thought the Browns offensive line got the
better of the play much and flip it around, the
Browns defensive line got the better of the play too much.
(03:09):
So but eight and three it's over. As Belichick would say,
we're on to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That we are. We're also onto our questions for today's
edition of Asked and Answered. Our first one comes to
Greg comes from Greg Parsons. He writes to us from
Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It seems like the Steelers go
for it on fourth down a lot with little success.
How many times have the Steelers gone for it on
fourth down this year? And how many times have they
made it on the failed attempt? How many were running
(03:42):
plays for loss of yards?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Okay, for the season, the Steelers are seven and fourteen
on fourth downs. That's fifty percent. That ranks them, you know,
kind of right in the middle of the league in
that statistic fifty fourth downs. Four of their seven failures, though,
have come in the last three games, and of the
(04:06):
seven overall failures to convert on fourth down, there were
only two running plays that lost yardage, but both of
those happened in Cleveland, so you know, Greg's sense of
you know this trend, It's less of a trend, I think,
and more of a situation where the Steelers just didn't
(04:27):
play well in Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
David Meyers from Frederick, Maryland. Why doesn't the NFL let
fans know how bad officiating is and when it's punished
with fines. Keep seeing a lot written about George Pickens
getting in a fight at the end of the game.
What about the defender who's holding him and pushing him
out of bounds into the wall behind the goalpost, all
while the ball is in the air. That's not the
only reason the Steelers lost, but it sure adds to
(04:53):
the sum.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, when it comes this is my experience. When it
comes to watching their favorite team, uh and their favorite
team loses, many fans want a public flogging and they
want you know, the responsible parties identified, criticized and then punished.
(05:19):
Or if it's you know, more than people issues or
weather or you know, whatever, they want that identified and
criticized as well. Now, when it comes to the officiating,
let me just say this. I'm not gonna try and
defend what happened in Cleveland with the officiating, but the
(05:43):
NFL is never going to do that. They're never going
to identify yes, we did this, this, and this wrong.
Yes this official did this wrong. These guys were out
of position, you know, and they're not going to say, well,
we graded these guys and their grades are low. Because
of that, they're not getting any playoff assignments. I mean,
that's just not gonna happen ever, So you know, that's
(06:10):
all I can tell you. I know what else to say
about it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, and listen, I don't have to convince you this
refs really stink across the board in all sports. And
I have taken on the mindset recently because you see
so many people complain about the rest after any game,
any result. If you as a team leave a game
in doubt where a referee can screw you, they're gonna
screw you. It's just the way that it goes right
(06:36):
now in almost all these leagues, especially the NFL. So listen,
I complaining about the refs, You know, you have to
do that sometimes because they make bad calls. But at
the same time, if you if you leave a game
in doubt, if you're only up by one in Cleveland,
if you're down by five, trying to hail Mary. The
refs are gonna screw you, all right.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's just in their nature, and it happens at all
levels of football. Yes, yes, I mean you know that
the Alabama Oklahoma game that what was that illegal touching
or whatever? They took that touchdown off the board. I mean,
you know, so whatever, it's Yes, it's awful.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
It is.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Howard rad Zaminski from Scottsdale, Arizona. In my opinion, the
most significant play on Thursday Night's lost to the Browns
was Corless Weightman's fifteen yard punt to our forty five
yard line in the fourth quarter. Cleveland only needed a
field goal to win at that point, and the field
position was a critical turning point in their last possession.
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
You can make a case that a fifteen yard pun
in that situation was bad. It was a mistake, it
was whatever you want to call it, bad play, poor timing.
As many synonyms for bad as you can come up with,
use them all. But you know, I watched the whole game.
(08:05):
I charted every play. I'm reluctant to point a figure
at a single play or one individual and identify either
that play or that individual as the reason for the
whole loss. You know, we often hear players and coaches
recite the cliche winners the team loses a team. Well,
(08:27):
Thursday night in Cleveland, that was a team loss.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Philip Colgrove from Chelmsford United Kingdom. I would guess that
wearing white jerseys during a snow game is not ideal.
Can a team change its jerseys at halftime?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You talk about the understatement of this podcast, that would be,
that would be that would get my vote. Yes, I
would have. That to me was I can't imagine how
just to use an example, how Russell Wilson saw Calvin
Austin third in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The What a great pass in those elements.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
But no, the answer to that is no, you cannot
change your jerseys. The rule is this, The schedule comes
out in May sometime, and then shortly thereafter every every
team is required to submit to the NFL the color
of jersey that they're going to wear for their home games.
(09:27):
And so then after that the visiting team has to
take the other thing. So it used to be the
Browns always were white at home. They were like the
Cowboys kind of. The Cowboys always were white at home.
But the Browns changed and so they were in brown
and worked out for him, got lucky.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Steven Kister from kindling at New Jersey. What a football
organization such as the Steelers, ever unilaterally seek to increase
compensation for an outstanding player on a rookie contract in
order to build goodwill for the future.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Can't do it against the rules. The Collective Bargaining Agreement
says that teams cannot extend or renegotiate a player who's
on his rookie contract until that player completes his third
NFL regular season. So that's that's another thing. The owners
kind of like about that. The new draft, Yes, the
(10:26):
thing because it's the slotting.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Remember Sam Bradford's contract Labs when it just completely broke
the bank. Everybody was so mad at that.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, and you know, not only ownership, but I mean
imagine real players. You know, you put in three four
years in the league and this guy who you know,
Sam Bradford, has put together a decent NFL career, So
I don't want to run him down. Yeah, but at
that point in time, he was a total unknown, total
unknown and all of that money, and a lot of
(10:58):
it was guaranteed. You know, it was ridiculous. So yeah,
I think that that rule is for the better because
you know whether or not.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It uh.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
You know, one of the reasons that it was get
one of the reasons given for it the rule was
it would put more money into the hands of the
established players. Whether that has happened or not, you know,
I'm not up on all the numbers, are up to
doing all the research to figure it out, but salary
(11:32):
caps have gone up, rookie rookie contracts have come down,
and so most teams spend to the cap. So I
would imagine that by that simple arithmetic, there more money
is going to the established players.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
John Quinn from Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Steelers have a big
decision with the offensive line next year. How do you
think the Dan Moore junior contract is going to shake out?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I think the decision has already been made. And by
that I mean in twenty twenty three, the Steelers used
their first round pick on Broderick Jones. In twenty twenty four,
they used their first round pick on Troy Filtano.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Those are the.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Guys that are their starting tackles moving forward, and so
I don't think the big decision is coming up. I
think the big decision has already been made.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I agree with you, And they would have had
a chance to offer Dan Moore that contract extension this
previous offseason and they chose not to do that, signing
other players instead. If you really liked him as your
left tackle, I'm pretty sure you would have not had
that lame duck year over his head. He would have
made signed him long term.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, But I mean, I don't think that this particular
offseason you would have wanted to pay Dan Moore Junior
a lot of money. And I think as Dan Moore
Junior and his agent at that point, I'm I'm let's
let's play it out because I'm a guy. I'm talking
about it from Dan Moore Junior and his agent's perspective.
(13:09):
I'm a guy who started at left tackle for three years. Yeah,
there's a lot of teams that have none, no left tackles,
So let's play it out. Let's see what the market
will bear. And I think he's gonna get paid a
lot of money.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Our next question actually has to do with that. Chris
Galloway from Dallas, Texas, do you think Dan Moore Junior
is becoming too valuable to let go via free agency.
It sounds like you do think that. No, no, no, no, I'm sorry.
It sounds like he's his price tag is becoming too
valuable to keep during free agency.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Right, He's gonna be too expensive, yeah, to keep, and hey,
good for him. You know, That's that's what the system
has been set up to create. And guys who you know,
I've always said when when players come up for contract
negotiations and they always say they want market value, Well,
(14:02):
market value actually is what you can get on the
open market. It's not what you think it is or
what the highest paid player is getting and you want
that or more. Market value is you throw your your
hat into the ring, so to speak, and teams will
bid on you or not. And what any someone is
(14:24):
willing to pay you that is your market value. So
Dan Moore and his agent rolled the dice, which I
think was smart for them. The Steelers did not jump
prematurely at you know, a long term, high money contract
for a guy that you know, his first couple of
years serviceable serviceable players, certainly, but I don't think it
(14:48):
was a top of the payscale kind of left tackle.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So you know, that's where we are.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Ken Waldrip from Ontonagan, Michigan. It seems like we have
gotten the better of the deal in the Deontae Johnson
for Dante Jackson trade. Is Dante Jackson a free agent
at the end of the season.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yes, he can.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He will be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent
in March twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And our final question today comes from Mike Darrow from
Manhattan Beach, California, on missed penalties that are clearly not
judgment calls. Why can't the review booth call down and
enforce the penalty the refs?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Again?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
What a question to end this episode.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
With, you know, I mean it's it's those pesky rules
that keep getting in the way. I mean seriously, because
you know, and the NFL does not allow insto replay
to be used to legislate penalties. I mean, you can't
call penalties based on insta replay. You can't overturn penalties
(15:50):
based on insta replay. You know, fans need to understand this.
You know, I get a lot of these questions, why
you know, why this? Why that? Because that's the rule?
What else to tell you? And I don't think personally,
I don't think that there's a lot of stomach among
(16:11):
ownership to change a lot of this stuff and make
more things eligible to be legislated by replay, because you know,
the games now are you know, could you imagine that
every every penalty you've got to go to replay. I
mean college is starting to get really bad.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Oh, it's awful.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
At least at least in the NFL. You have challenges,
that's it. You know, you get a couple, so you've
got to have to kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Save them.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
They're like timeouts, you know, you use them judiciously, and
then in the last two minutes of each half.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
There's booth reviews. But in college, I mean they review.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Every single thing. It's terrible. Games are taking four and
a half hours long.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It's not good, right, So, uh, you know, I've always
believed that the solution to the officiating problem is better officiate,
not more replay. Get better officials, younger, train them, and
then you know, move them through. You know, make it
(17:17):
a make it a job like the players and coaches
in the league, where you are interviewed, you're trained, you
get an opportunity. If you do well, you keep the job,
and your pay goes up. If you stink, you get
cut or fired. Same thing with officials, rotate them through.
(17:39):
But hey, nobody listens to me except you so, and
you only listen to me every Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I'm forced to. Yes, well, we are on to Cincinnati,
but before we're there, we're onto Thanksgiving labs.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Okay, I've got some questions for you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Okay, I knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Go ahead, all right, what's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It's side dish, stuffing, no hesitation.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, I'm a caramel sweet potato guy, but stuffing is
up there.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Stuffing is up off the board labs for a favorite size.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Here's here's another one me and pursue to argue about
this all the time. Okay, Thanksgiving dinner, Ham and turkey,
yes or no? No, No, I'm turkey guy, just a
turkey guy.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yes, okay, And then here's the last one.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And whose side? Am I on yours? Or pursuita is.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
No, you're on my side?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Perfect? Get that ham out of here. We'll save ham
for December.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Or yeah right, I mean I don't know ham is
ham is?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Okay, but it's it's not a holiday thing for it
never was at our house, so maybe it's just I'm
a product of my environment.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And the last thing, well, actually two things, dessert. We
got to get the dessert.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
The three pies at our house all were pumpkin pie,
apple pie, pecan pie.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You get to pick one which which where you're.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Going Pumpkin Pumpkin pie is my favorite type of pie.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Okay, I would go apple, but that's.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
We have a chocolate pie as well at our house.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Us okay, bad, right, okay. And then finally on the pie,
ice cream or ready whip.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I usually go with ready whip.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, me too, but but.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
If you put a scoop of vanilla on there, going
to bed right exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, see for me too, the ice cream is best
on the apple pie. Yes, pumpkin, I want whipped cream.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Sounds like, yeah, we're in lockstep here, labs. Let me
ask you this because this is my off the board side.
What's your thoughts on cranberry sauce? Never see, we disagree there,
But I'm not like a homemade cranberry sauce. Guy, I
want it from the can. I want the store bought.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Yeah, you want the jello exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I want the jello kind.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, I'm not a Cranberry guy, I never was well.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Enjoy your Thanksgiving everybody out there. Sunday Steelers go to
Cincinnati to try to bounce back get back in the
win column with another AFC North game. Labs goes on
the air at eleven AM with the Steelers Audio Network
pregame show, and then kickoff is at one Thanks as
always for giving us a listen for Bob Labriola. I'm
Tom Offerman. We'll talk to you next week on Aston
Answered
This is asked and answered questions with Tom Upferman and
Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Labs headed into that Cleveland game. You know, I saw
the stats. Steelers have only won one time at that
stadium since twenty seventeen. I thought that they were going
to break that streak. I thought they were going to
get the win. I really didn't buy into it, but
there's just something about that place. They have the Steelers
number up there lately, don't they.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, And you know, it was a tough situation, I thought,
particularly this year. You know, Thursday night on the road
is difficult, right, right, regardless, And a lot of people
don't understand is they think, well, Cleveland's close, but it's
not so much the distance you have to go. It's
(00:49):
the time that it takes to get there. And because
of where the stadium is and where the airport is,
you know, it's really.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
One half dozen of the other.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So the Steelers have for forever taking buses, right, and
it's two and a half three hour trip either way
if you because even if you fly, you know, you
may only be in the air for half an hour.
But the airport in Cleveland is way west of the
(01:21):
city and the stadium and all that stuff. So you're
still on buses and you're just driving back, you know,
from the airport. You gotta go to the airport in Pittsburgh,
check in board the plane, load the plane. You know,
all of that's it's it's it's the time element is
what it is. So there's that, and then you play
(01:42):
the Ravens on Sunday, and that's just physically exhausting. Physically,
not so much exhausting as brutal.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, personally, I didn't feel good after that Thursday night
game until like Saturday or Sunday. So you know, I
can't imagine what the Steelers players felt like, you know,
seventy two hours after playing the Ravens and then having
(02:15):
to play another game.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I don't know. So we go through more of a
gauntlet than they do, but sure I'm sure that they too.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah right, here's nothing, you know, like, you know, talking
to you, I mean, I'd rather, you know, try and
tackle Derek and so, you know, And I really think
that some of that physical toll of the Ravens game
showed up in the Browns game, because I didn't particularly
(02:47):
think that the Steelers did very well on either line
of scrimmage. I thought the Browns offensive line got the
better of the play much and flip it around, the
Browns defensive line got the better of the play too much.
(03:09):
So but eight and three it's over. As Belichick would say,
we're on to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That we are. We're also onto our questions for today's
edition of Asked and Answered. Our first one comes to
Greg comes from Greg Parsons. He writes to us from
Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It seems like the Steelers go
for it on fourth down a lot with little success.
How many times have the Steelers gone for it on
fourth down this year? And how many times have they
made it on the failed attempt? How many were running
(03:42):
plays for loss of yards?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Okay, for the season, the Steelers are seven and fourteen
on fourth downs. That's fifty percent. That ranks them, you know,
kind of right in the middle of the league in
that statistic fifty fourth downs. Four of their seven failures, though,
have come in the last three games, and of the
(04:06):
seven overall failures to convert on fourth down, there were
only two running plays that lost yardage, but both of
those happened in Cleveland, so you know, Greg's sense of
you know this trend, It's less of a trend, I think,
and more of a situation where the Steelers just didn't
(04:27):
play well in Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
David Meyers from Frederick, Maryland. Why doesn't the NFL let
fans know how bad officiating is and when it's punished
with fines. Keep seeing a lot written about George Pickens
getting in a fight at the end of the game.
What about the defender who's holding him and pushing him
out of bounds into the wall behind the goalpost, all
while the ball is in the air. That's not the
only reason the Steelers lost, but it sure adds to
(04:53):
the sum.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, when it comes this is my experience. When it
comes to watching their favorite team, uh and their favorite
team loses, many fans want a public flogging and they
want you know, the responsible parties identified, criticized and then punished.
(05:19):
Or if it's you know, more than people issues or
weather or you know, whatever, they want that identified and
criticized as well. Now, when it comes to the officiating,
let me just say this. I'm not gonna try and
defend what happened in Cleveland with the officiating, but the
(05:43):
NFL is never going to do that. They're never going
to identify yes, we did this, this, and this wrong.
Yes this official did this wrong. These guys were out
of position, you know, and they're not going to say, well,
we graded these guys and their grades are low. Because
of that, they're not getting any playoff assignments. I mean,
that's just not gonna happen ever, So you know, that's
(06:10):
all I can tell you. I know what else to say
about it.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, and listen, I don't have to convince you this
refs really stink across the board in all sports. And
I have taken on the mindset recently because you see
so many people complain about the rest after any game,
any result. If you as a team leave a game
in doubt where a referee can screw you, they're gonna
screw you. It's just the way that it goes right
(06:36):
now in almost all these leagues, especially the NFL. So listen,
I complaining about the refs, You know, you have to
do that sometimes because they make bad calls. But at
the same time, if you if you leave a game
in doubt, if you're only up by one in Cleveland,
if you're down by five, trying to hail Mary. The
refs are gonna screw you, all right.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
It's just in their nature, and it happens at all
levels of football. Yes, yes, I mean you know that
the Alabama Oklahoma game that what was that illegal touching
or whatever? They took that touchdown off the board. I mean,
you know, so whatever, it's Yes, it's awful.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
It is.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Howard rad Zaminski from Scottsdale, Arizona. In my opinion, the
most significant play on Thursday Night's lost to the Browns
was Corless Weightman's fifteen yard punt to our forty five
yard line in the fourth quarter. Cleveland only needed a
field goal to win at that point, and the field
position was a critical turning point in their last possession.
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
You can make a case that a fifteen yard pun
in that situation was bad. It was a mistake, it
was whatever you want to call it, bad play, poor timing.
As many synonyms for bad as you can come up with,
use them all. But you know, I watched the whole game.
(08:05):
I charted every play. I'm reluctant to point a figure
at a single play or one individual and identify either
that play or that individual as the reason for the
whole loss. You know, we often hear players and coaches
recite the cliche winners the team loses a team. Well,
(08:27):
Thursday night in Cleveland, that was a team loss.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Philip Colgrove from Chelmsford United Kingdom. I would guess that
wearing white jerseys during a snow game is not ideal.
Can a team change its jerseys at halftime?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You talk about the understatement of this podcast, that would be,
that would be that would get my vote. Yes, I
would have. That to me was I can't imagine how
just to use an example, how Russell Wilson saw Calvin
Austin third in the middle of.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The What a great pass in those elements.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
But no, the answer to that is no, you cannot
change your jerseys. The rule is this, The schedule comes
out in May sometime, and then shortly thereafter every every
team is required to submit to the NFL the color
of jersey that they're going to wear for their home games.
(09:27):
And so then after that the visiting team has to
take the other thing. So it used to be the
Browns always were white at home. They were like the
Cowboys kind of. The Cowboys always were white at home.
But the Browns changed and so they were in brown
and worked out for him, got lucky.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Steven Kister from kindling at New Jersey. What a football
organization such as the Steelers, ever unilaterally seek to increase
compensation for an outstanding player on a rookie contract in
order to build goodwill for the future.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Can't do it against the rules. The Collective Bargaining Agreement
says that teams cannot extend or renegotiate a player who's
on his rookie contract until that player completes his third
NFL regular season. So that's that's another thing. The owners
kind of like about that. The new draft, Yes, the
(10:26):
thing because it's the slotting.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Remember Sam Bradford's contract Labs when it just completely broke
the bank. Everybody was so mad at that.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, and you know, not only ownership, but I mean
imagine real players. You know, you put in three four
years in the league and this guy who you know,
Sam Bradford, has put together a decent NFL career, So
I don't want to run him down. Yeah, but at
that point in time, he was a total unknown, total
unknown and all of that money, and a lot of
(10:58):
it was guaranteed. You know, it was ridiculous. So yeah,
I think that that rule is for the better because
you know whether or not.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It uh.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
You know, one of the reasons that it was get
one of the reasons given for it the rule was
it would put more money into the hands of the
established players. Whether that has happened or not, you know,
I'm not up on all the numbers, are up to
doing all the research to figure it out, but salary
(11:32):
caps have gone up, rookie rookie contracts have come down,
and so most teams spend to the cap. So I
would imagine that by that simple arithmetic, there more money
is going to the established players.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
John Quinn from Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Steelers have a big
decision with the offensive line next year. How do you
think the Dan Moore junior contract is going to shake out?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I think the decision has already been made. And by
that I mean in twenty twenty three, the Steelers used
their first round pick on Broderick Jones. In twenty twenty four,
they used their first round pick on Troy Filtano.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Those are the.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Guys that are their starting tackles moving forward, and so
I don't think the big decision is coming up. I
think the big decision has already been made.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I agree with you, And they would have had
a chance to offer Dan Moore that contract extension this
previous offseason and they chose not to do that, signing
other players instead. If you really liked him as your
left tackle, I'm pretty sure you would have not had
that lame duck year over his head. He would have
made signed him long term.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, But I mean, I don't think that this particular
offseason you would have wanted to pay Dan Moore Junior
a lot of money. And I think as Dan Moore
Junior and his agent at that point, I'm I'm let's
let's play it out because I'm a guy. I'm talking
about it from Dan Moore Junior and his agent's perspective.
(13:09):
I'm a guy who started at left tackle for three years. Yeah,
there's a lot of teams that have none, no left tackles,
So let's play it out. Let's see what the market
will bear. And I think he's gonna get paid a
lot of money.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Our next question actually has to do with that. Chris
Galloway from Dallas, Texas, do you think Dan Moore Junior
is becoming too valuable to let go via free agency.
It sounds like you do think that. No, no, no, no, I'm sorry.
It sounds like he's his price tag is becoming too
valuable to keep during free agency.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Right, He's gonna be too expensive, yeah, to keep, and hey,
good for him. You know, That's that's what the system
has been set up to create. And guys who you know,
I've always said when when players come up for contract
negotiations and they always say they want market value, Well,
(14:02):
market value actually is what you can get on the
open market. It's not what you think it is or
what the highest paid player is getting and you want
that or more. Market value is you throw your your
hat into the ring, so to speak, and teams will
bid on you or not. And what any someone is
(14:24):
willing to pay you that is your market value. So
Dan Moore and his agent rolled the dice, which I
think was smart for them. The Steelers did not jump
prematurely at you know, a long term, high money contract
for a guy that you know, his first couple of
years serviceable serviceable players, certainly, but I don't think it
(14:48):
was a top of the payscale kind of left tackle.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So you know, that's where we are.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Ken Waldrip from Ontonagan, Michigan. It seems like we have
gotten the better of the deal in the Deontae Johnson
for Dante Jackson trade. Is Dante Jackson a free agent
at the end of the season.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yes, he can.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
He will be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent
in March twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And our final question today comes from Mike Darrow from
Manhattan Beach, California, on missed penalties that are clearly not
judgment calls. Why can't the review booth call down and
enforce the penalty the refs?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Again?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
What a question to end this episode.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
With, you know, I mean it's it's those pesky rules
that keep getting in the way. I mean seriously, because
you know, and the NFL does not allow insto replay
to be used to legislate penalties. I mean, you can't
call penalties based on insta replay. You can't overturn penalties
(15:50):
based on insta replay. You know, fans need to understand this.
You know, I get a lot of these questions, why
you know, why this? Why that? Because that's the rule?
What else to tell you? And I don't think personally,
I don't think that there's a lot of stomach among
(16:11):
ownership to change a lot of this stuff and make
more things eligible to be legislated by replay, because you know,
the games now are you know, could you imagine that
every every penalty you've got to go to replay. I
mean college is starting to get really bad.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Oh, it's awful.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
At least at least in the NFL. You have challenges,
that's it. You know, you get a couple, so you've
got to have to kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Save them.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
They're like timeouts, you know, you use them judiciously, and
then in the last two minutes of each half.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
There's booth reviews. But in college, I mean they review.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Every single thing. It's terrible. Games are taking four and
a half hours long.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It's not good, right, So, uh, you know, I've always
believed that the solution to the officiating problem is better officiate,
not more replay. Get better officials, younger, train them, and
then you know, move them through. You know, make it
(17:17):
a make it a job like the players and coaches
in the league, where you are interviewed, you're trained, you
get an opportunity. If you do well, you keep the job,
and your pay goes up. If you stink, you get
cut or fired. Same thing with officials, rotate them through.
(17:39):
But hey, nobody listens to me except you so, and
you only listen to me every Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I'm forced to. Yes, well, we are on to Cincinnati,
but before we're there, we're onto Thanksgiving labs.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Okay, I've got some questions for you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Okay, I knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Go ahead, all right, what's your favorite?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
It's side dish, stuffing, no hesitation.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, I'm a caramel sweet potato guy, but stuffing is
up there.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Stuffing is up off the board labs for a favorite size.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Here's here's another one me and pursue to argue about
this all the time. Okay, Thanksgiving dinner, Ham and turkey,
yes or no? No, No, I'm turkey guy, just a
turkey guy.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yes, okay, And then here's the last one.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And whose side? Am I on yours? Or pursuita is.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
No, you're on my side?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Perfect? Get that ham out of here. We'll save ham
for December.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Or yeah right, I mean I don't know ham is
ham is?
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Okay, but it's it's not a holiday thing for it
never was at our house, so maybe it's just I'm
a product of my environment.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And the last thing, well, actually two things, dessert. We
got to get the dessert.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
The three pies at our house all were pumpkin pie,
apple pie, pecan pie.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You get to pick one which which where you're.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Going Pumpkin Pumpkin pie is my favorite type of pie.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Okay, I would go apple, but that's.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
We have a chocolate pie as well at our house.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Us okay, bad, right, okay. And then finally on the pie,
ice cream or ready whip.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I usually go with ready whip.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah, me too, but but.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
If you put a scoop of vanilla on there, going
to bed right exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, see for me too, the ice cream is best
on the apple pie. Yes, pumpkin, I want whipped cream.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Sounds like, yeah, we're in lockstep here, labs. Let me
ask you this because this is my off the board side.
What's your thoughts on cranberry sauce? Never see, we disagree there,
But I'm not like a homemade cranberry sauce. Guy, I
want it from the can. I want the store bought.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Yeah, you want the jello exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I want the jello kind.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, I'm not a Cranberry guy, I never was well.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Enjoy your Thanksgiving everybody out there. Sunday Steelers go to
Cincinnati to try to bounce back get back in the
win column with another AFC North game. Labs goes on
the air at eleven AM with the Steelers Audio Network
pregame show, and then kickoff is at one Thanks as
always for giving us a listen for Bob Labriola. I'm
Tom Offerman. We'll talk to you next week on Aston
Answered
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.